It is not uncommon for a woman or a man to feel self-conscious of his or her body. During periods in their lives, men and women may undergo drastic bodily changes. For example, during a stressful period or a period of dieting and exercise, a person may gain or lose extreme amounts of weight. Weight gain may lead to unsightly lumps, bumps, and stretching of skin, which may even be visible to others if the person is wearing tight or clingy garments. In addition, individuals undergoing particular surgeries, such as bariatric surgery, may experience rapid weight loss. Such rapid weight loss may lead to sagging skin.
Further, the shape of a woman's body also changes dramatically during and after pregnancy and considerable time and effort may be required to return to pre-pregnancy body measurements. In particular, the pregnant woman's belly goes through several phases, expanding and retracting over a period of time, which is relatively short in comparison to some non-pregnancy related weight gains and losses. The woman's skin, in particular around the belly area, stretches during pregnancy often leaving unfavorable marks or lines, more commonly known as stretch marks. During or after pregnancy, a woman may also notice weight gain, stretch marks, sagging skin, and/or a dimpled or lumpy appearance in other areas of her body, such as her buttocks, hips, and thighs.
Therefore, many men and women seek to reduce the appearance of sagging skin, dimples, and/or lumps, and may also desire additional coverage of their bodies. In addition, many people use skin products to prevent and reduce these stretch marks but are limited by when these types of products can be applied. Currently available garments can rub against the skin, causing skin products to dissipate from the area on which they were applied, reducing the effectiveness of the product. Additionally, many of these skin products contain ingredients that can seep through, deteriorate, or discolor garments, such as tops, undergarments, bottoms, accessories, such as wraps worn around the belly during or post-pregnancy or after surgeries, etc. Thus, people are limited to using these skin products at home or in private where they can be nude.
During these dramatic changes to a woman's or a man's body, traditional garments, such as tops, bottoms, undergarments, and/or any accessories may not provide total coverage of the skin of the user. For example, a woman's growing pregnant belly may lift a garment worn on the top of her belly, thereby exposing the skin between the bottom of the garment worn on the top and the garment worn on the bottom of her torso. Also, as the pregnant belly grows, or as additional weight is added to the torso region, the belly is pulled downward, which can cause pain or discomfort for the person, especially in his or her lower back.
Thus, there is a need for addressing or ameliorating one or more of the disadvantages associated with at least one of the bodily changes of a user, the dissipation of skin products, lumpy or dimpled appearance of a user's body, and/or a lack of coverage or support for a belly of a user (e.g., a pregnant woman's belly).